Frightening Prospects, aka THE LOST CHAPTERS
by Dixxy Mouri
Summary: The lost chapters from Memories. What if just Dario went to save Glenn? Then where did the other two go and, more importantly, what did they do and how much would Porre have to pay to repair the damages? More examples of really bad Porre security. . .


Frightening Prospects, a.k.a. THE LOST CHAPTERS!!!

By Dixxy

Author's Notes: Anyone remember when I was alluding to Karsh doing something strange in _Memories_ but decided to cut it out because it takes away from the story? Well, I saved those chapters. And here they are! The words in _italics_ at the beginning of the story show where in _Memories_ this story was. Also note that in this version of the story, Dario went to rescue Glenn by himself while Karsh and Norris were to provide, ah hem, distraction.

~

_"Commander!"_

"What?" Curtis snapped. Glenn could see a rectangular light with a silhouette of a man standing it in through blurred vision. His tormentor seemed very irritated at whoever had come to the door. "Can't you idiots see I'm busy here?" He put the knife down and stood up, folding his arms and tapping his foot impatiently. "Well? Spit it out before I have you tossed into the dungeons!"

"There's a big ruckus outside and your son is in the middle of it."

"What the hell is that boy up to this time?"

"I don't know how to put this but. . . he's being held hostage."

"WHAT!?"

~

"Dunt any of ye move a muscle or ahll SHOOOOOT!" Karsh threatened. He had an arm around Norris' neck and was holding a water pistol that looked a lot like a real gun. Several Porre soldiers had him surrounded as he waved the gun back and fourth. "Ahll blow is brains out! AHLL DO IT! AHLL DO IT!!!"

Norris pretended to be afraid. He'd gotten the gun from his house and given it to Karsh, explaining what it's REAL purpose was for. All Karsh had to do was act like a psychopath and their plan would work. Eventually they would lead the military on a chase around the city, then Karsh would drop Norris, find a place to hide, and rendezvous with Dario and Glenn outside the city. Simple as that.

Well. . . at least that was how it was SUPPOSED to go. There were a thousand and one things that could go wrong, but they were twelve and, in Norris' case, eleven years old. You couldn't expect a brilliant military strategy from a bunch of young boys, now could you?

"Wait for my dad," Norris said in a hushed whisper. Karsh acknowledged this with a light squeeze. He'd be able to figure it out- he knew what the bastard looked like and he was sure that Norris would either shout out his father's name or his father would start shouting for him. 

Sure enough, the slime came bolting out of the building. Norris gave an award winning performance as he screamed for help. Curtis snarled. "You'd better let my son go or else I'll blow YOUR brains out, you punk!" the commander shouted, aiming his gun at Karsh. "That's my son you've got there and you will pay DEARLY for harming him! I'll kill you, ya little brat!"

"Yer all going to have to catch me, first!" Karsh said. He quickly grabbed Norris' hand and tore down a narrow alleyway with his new friend in tow. He snickered to himself as he heard the Porre soldiers learn a valuable lesson about charging as a group into a narrow alley- you would get stuck if you didn't go down it single file. He could hear Curtis swearing up a storm behind him. 

"Yer old man has a mouth on em, eh?" said Karsh.

"Yeah, my mom's been trying to get him to cut back on the swearing," said Norris. Karsh chose random directions to run in, making sure it would be as hard as possible for those soldiers to catch up to him and Norris. He knew that they'd eventually split up, and they needed to find a hiding spot.

Karsh stopped to give both himself and his "hostage" a break by some sort of a big barn, the two leaning up against the building. "This. . . is. . . INSANE!" Karsh commented. "But, eh, it's fun. Ah haven't add this much fun since ah set off some fireworks en me mum's garden."

Norris raised an eyebrow. "You got in trouble, right?"  
"You bet."

The blonde shook his head. "You're all pretty weird, you know that?"

"Normal people are boring," said Karsh. He looked over and saw an open door. "Hey, Norris, look at that!" He pointed at the ajar door. "Should we go inside?" Norris shrugged and started to walk over to the door. Karsh smiled. They might not think to look for them in that big old warehouse, now would they?

Once they were inside and saw that no one was in there with them, Karsh closed the door. It was kind of dark, leaving the boys with minimal vision. "What do you suppose they're keeping in here?" asked Norris, looking around in the dark. "I get the feeling it's something cool!"

"Light would be nice," said Karsh. "Maybe we ken see it that way."

Norris found a light switch and flipped it on. The room illuminated, revealing its only contents aside from the two boys- something really, really, really big covered by a really, really, really big sheet. Both boys went wide eyed at the contraption, their mouths hanging open as they let out a collective "whoa". 

"What is it?" asked Karsh.

Norris shook his head, snapping himself out of his daze. "I think it's a tank."

Karsh raised an eyebrow. "Something that holds water?"

"No! A tank!" said Norris. Then, he laughed. "Oh, right, the Dragoons use swords and axes, I forgot. Sorry. A tank is a really big machine that's sort of a like a horse-less carriage. They're usually very safe to be inside of and carry lots of big weapons, like canons and machine guns and stuff like that."

"Would hiding inside the tank be a good idea?"  
Norris looked over the contraption. "I don't see why not. But first we have to pull the sheet off." He walked over to one end of the machine. "Go to the other end and grab the other corner. We'll yank it off together then get inside this thing, all right?" Karsh nodded and ran to the other end.

"On a count of three!" said Norris. "One!"

"Two!"

"THREE!"

YANK!

"WHOA!"

The boys were stunned by the shiny metal vehicle of mass destruction. Canons lined every side and the symbol of Porre was painted on most of the tank's surfaces. Doing what any other twelve or eleven year old boys would do, they scrambled to the top of the tank, opened the hatch, went inside, and closed it.

Karsh looked around in amazement. Buttons, hatches, chairs, and steering wheels lined the slightly cramped chamber. "Eiy. . . Norris, how do they use this? It as too many buttons!!!" Norris shrugged- how was he supposed to know how to use a very expensive piece of military equipment?

Karsh scratched his head. "Whatever. We need to find Dario and Glenn pretty soon."

Norris nodded. He had to help the three get out of the city before something bad happened to them. Somehow, he felt as if the three of them would become important to him later in his life. Vastly important. Norris shuddered. _Nah! You're just being silly, Norris. You'll probably never see these guys again!_

"I want to thank ye, Norris."

"Hmm?" asked Norris.

"Yer helping me and Dario save Glenn. Maybe you're all not that bad," said Karsh.

"I don't think we're bad at all," said Norris.

"Then why are ye taking over other countries?" said Karsh. "That's why we kem here. Because we think that Porre is going ta try and take over our home and Guardia. We want ta defend ourselves, ye know?" He looked out, brushing his purple hair out of his face. "El Nido is beautiful. Ahd hate ta see it taken over."

Norris looked down at his feet. Was this all true?

Karsh leaned up against one of the keypads. "This is going better than ah- AHH!"

The tank jerked into motion, plowing through the large double doors before it.

"You turned it on! You started it up!" said Norris, looking worried.

"Ah did?" said Karsh. All of the displays around them lit up, showing scenes from outside. Random pieces of machinery began to hum, beep, and buzz, showing signs of life within the tank. Karsh bit his bottom lip. "Ah did! What do we do now?! We dunt know how ta drive this thing!"

"Uh, improvise?" said Norris. They each took a seat at different positions, Karsh taking one infront of a big wheel and Norris before several displays. The blonde bit his lip. "I think I can control what we can and can't see outside from here. What do you have, Karsh?"

"Ah think ahm in the driver's seat," said Karsh. He started to turn the wheel, feeling the tank jerk with each turn. "Ah am!" He turned to Norris. The other boy, in turn, looked at him, waiting for a question or a comment from the purple haired youth. "How do ah make it go faster?"

"Push the pedals, I think," said Norris.  
"Oh, ah git it- just like me ma's piano!" said Karsh, pushing down on one of the pedals.

The tank sped forward.

"WHEEE! THIS IS FUN!"

"KARSH! SLOW DOWN! YOU'RE GOING TO GET US KILLED!"

Karsh began to hit every other button on the keypad, then looked up. He was headed straight for a building. In response, he did the most intelligent thing he could think off and began to scream his head off. "AH! AH DUNT KNOW HOW TA DRIVE THE TANK!"

CRUNCH!

Karsh bit his lips. "Oops. I'm sorry, Norris."

"Nah, that's okay. It was just my school."

"Oh, okay."

~

"Good, we're outside," said Dario. He looked down at Glenn, who had calmed down considerably. The handkerchief on his cheek was turning red, but it looked like the bleeding was beginning to stop. "You all right, Glenn?" Glenn nodded at his brother. "Now let's find Karsh so we can go home!"

"Yay!" Glenn cheered. "Home! Daddy!"

Dario looked around. "No soldiers. I thought this place would've been- duck!" Dario pushed himself and his little brother behind a trash can as a pack of Porre soldiers ran by them, screaming bloody murder. The brothers stepped out, curious as to why they were yelling and running.

They would soon get their answer.

Both boys felt a shaking begin, much like an earthquake. Glenn clung to Dario, looking up at his brother in worry. Dario was just trying to figure out what in the name of the Earth Dragon was going on. Glenn began to whimper and Dario gave him a tight squeeze, trying to reassure his little brother everything would be okay.

A giant mechanical thing appeared, slowly moving through the street. Both boys stared at it in shock and wonder, blinking at it in amazement. The machine then stopped and began to die down. They heard a sound from above and saw a hatch on top open up, a blonde head poking through. "Norris!?" asked Dario.

"Get in!" he said. Not wanting to take the time to argue, Dario helped Glenn climb up the side of the tank. Once both brothers were inside, Norris closed the door. He looked over his shoulder towards a high-backed chair. "Okay Karsh, start her back up and get us out of here!"

"Is Karsh operating this thing?" asked Dario.

"You bet!" was Karsh's reply. "Ahm getting the hang of this thing. Ah only demolished one building to me name! Norris thought ahd take out the whole city with this heap of metal!" The machine then buzzed to life and the three standing boys found themselves on the floor from the sudden jolt.

"His take-offs aren't that great," said Norris.

"He broke a building?" asked Glenn.

Norris chuckled. "Nothing important, just my school- hey! What happened to you?" he asked. Glenn slowly removed the handkerchief. Norris paled and crept over to Glenn, beginning to look the younger boy over with concern. "Did the officers do this to you?" The smaller boy nodded.

"Yes, they did," said Dario. "Curtis did this."

Norris went silent. _Father. . . you. . . I can't believe you did this!_ Norris stood up, bracing himself against a chair. "I'll see if I can dig up some disinfectant. I'll be right back." He then turned to Glenn and laughed lightly. "Oh, by the way, my name is Norris. I'm helping you guys get out of here."

"Thank you, Norris. I'm Glenn," said the youngest boy there.

Norris nodded as he began to dig through a compartment. "Dario and Karsh told me about what happened to you and I decided to help. I couldn't believe the Porre army would kidnap a little kid," he said, looking down. He then turned back to his search for medicines.

"I'm not a little kid!"

"Yer close enough," said Karsh.

"Karsh! Now is not the time or the place! Keep track of where you're going and try not to run over any houses!" said Norris. Karsh mumbled something in response and turned his attention back to driving the tank. Aside from the muffled scream they could hear from outside, they saw, heard, and felt nothing that hinted at the possibility of Karsh running anything over.

Norris pulled out a box. He put it on the floor and opened the box, taking out a spray can. "Here. This won't heal the wound, but it should prevent any chance of an infection," he said. Norris shook up the can and held it up to Glenn's cheek. "This might sting a little bit, but it's either a little bit of pain now or a whole lot of pain once an infection sets in." 

Glenn just nodded as Dario held him tightly. Norris lightly sprayed the wound and took some cloths to gently wipe it clean. The little boy winced and whimpered, but other than that, took the treatment rather well. Curtis drawing the knife across his face had hurt a lot worse than that.

"Well, well, well, looks like they want ta play!"

Everyone looked up. Karsh was still driving the tank. He turned around. "There's another tank infront of us. I can't git past it without running over more buildings. We either run over the buildings or fight that other tank. Yer choice, Norris- it's yer town and yer people."

"Norris is from Porre?" asked Glenn.

"Yes," said Norris. "I am."

"In fact, he's Curtis'-" Dario started.

"I am Curtis' nothing," said Norris. He turned to Dario. Dario nodded in understanding, somehow proud of this other boy he'd only known for a few hours. He turned to Karsh. "Go ahead. Attack the tank. At worst you'll just render it dysfunctional. You won't hurt anyone inside."

Karsh gave Norris a thumbs up, then turned back to his duty. "All right, ye bastards! Yer going to face the wrath of ME! Prepare yerselves fer the battle of yer lives, ye bastards! AH WILL NOT GO DOWN EASILY!!! AH AM THE SON OF AN ACACIA DEVA AND AH-WILL-**PASS YE BASTARDS**!!!" He grinned, reaching for a big red button that said "Massive Hysteria".

BOOM! BOOM! KA-BOOM!

Karsh calmly drove the stolen tank past the now severely damaged tank and out of Porre. He laughed. "Ha! Take that ye bastards! Ah will return to kick yer keisters again when ahm a Dragoon meself! And that isn't a threat- THAT WOULD BE EH PROMISE YE BASTARDS! YE HEAR THAT YE BASTARDS!? BASTARDS!!! BASTARDS!!!"

"Karsh? Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Norris."

"Would you please stop calling my people 'bastards'?"

"Oh, sorry. Ah got a wee bit carried away."

". . . I'll say."

~

Considering I'm slightly stuck on _Thieves_ (it's a kind of sappy reflective chapter between Norris and Karsh on their feelings on their respective families), I thought I'd pacify you guys with this insane little romp that didn't make the final cut of _Memories_ for obvious reasons. As much fun as it was to write Karsh and Norris going on a joy-ride in a tank, it just took away too much from the real point of the fic, which was the rather traumatic circumstances under which I gave Glenn his scar. It took away too much from the actual story, which is why this isn't posted with the real story.

Now, see the little drop-down list that says "Submit Review"? Click on the button next to it. Thank you!

~Dixxy


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